The present invention resides in an arrangement for controlling an internal combustion engine having a cylinder with a combustion chamber and comprising an electronic control unit, at least one injector for the injection of fuel into the combustion chamber, and connecting lines extending between the electronic engine control unit and the injector for the transmission of signals and an intelligent electronic component.
In an internal combustion engine, the fuel injection begin and the fuel injection end determines largely the composition of the exhaust gas. In order to keep the exhaust gas composition within the legal limits those two characteristic values are generally controlled by an electronic engine control unit.
However, in the praxis, in an internal combustion engine with a common rail fuel injection system, there is always a time delay between the beginning of the energization of the injector, the movement of the control needle of the injector and the actual fuel injection. The same applies to the end of the fuel injection. In addition, there are deviations between the individual injectors and also aging effects which affect the operation of the fuel injectors overall.
In order to reduce such deviations, the manufacturing data of the injectors are recorded by a coding applied to each injector for example by means of bar codes or code numbers. The data are then read by a corresponding reading apparatus into the electronic engine control unit. Another possibility is to record the individual parameters of an injector in a memory component which is arranged at the injector. During operation, these parameters are read by the engine control unit and the desired control values are adapted to the particular injector. WO 97/23717 A discloses such a system with a passive memory component, that is, a memory component which does not require an energy supply. For reading out the parameters, however, corresponding signal transmission lines are necessary.
For determining the momentary state of the injector, generally the position of the injector needle is detected inductively by a change of the PWM signal via a travel sensor or opto-electronically. Also in this case, the wiring expenditures are critical.
It is the object of the present invention to provide means for a reliable determination of the momentary state of an injector with little cabling expenditures.